Golf At Goodwood holds successful Junior Ryder Cup

The players, who consisted of junior members and competitors from the Beginner Junior Leagues, were divided up into two teams of 14 – one team representing Europe and another representing the USA. The formats varied according to age and handicap, with the teams led out by Charlie Gilgenkrantz (USA) and Harry Malin (Europe) in an 18-hole singles match, which ended halved.

Following them were four pairs matches for players with handicaps ranging from 5 to 32, who played nine holes in a foursomes format and nine holes fourball. After these matches, Goodwood’s youngest rising stars played nine or seven holes in singles matchplay from the red or blue tees.

The matches were closely fought throughout the day, though Harry Callow and Thady White put in an incredible performance to win their match 6 & 5 for Europe. However, it was the USA team who landed the spoils, winning with a score of 6 ½ to Europe’s 3 ½.

Golf At Goodwood’s Rob Irving said; “It was the best junior event I have seen at Goodwood and the standard of tee shots I witnessed was incredible. Some of these children arrived here for their first golf lessons only late last year so their progress is something they and our coaching team should be proud of.”

Academy Manager and PGA Cup winner Chris McDonnell was on hand to present the trophy and awards and commented; “For some this was a first experience of matchplay, foursomes and having spectators on the course so it was great to see them naturally embrace the challenge. The standard amongst our more experienced juniors is astonishing and they really stepped up, got into the spirit of the day and provided a great show of golf to inspire their youngest teammates. We are committed to creating an encouraging environment for junior golfers to develop in here at Goodwood.”